Andalusian School; XVII century.

Andalusian School; XVII century.
"Holy Family".
Oil on panel.
Measurements: 56,5 x 42,5 cm; 70 x 56 cm (frame).
In this work the Holy Family is represented with the Child in the middle giving his hand to his mother, located to his right. To his left appears the figure of Joseph also offering his hand to the Child and holding in the other hand the flowering branch, which is his main iconographic attribute. Above them the space opens and the figure of God the Father appears, who is arranged on four little angels that give way to the presence of the dove of the Holy Spirit flying over the Child's head.
In the most common sense of the expression, the Holy Family includes the closest relatives of the Child Jesus, that is, mother and grandmother or mother and nurturing father. In both cases, whether it is St. Anne or St. Joseph who appears, it is a group of three figures. From the artistic point of view, the arrangement of this terrestrial Trinity poses the same problems and suggests the same solutions as the heavenly Trinity. However, the difficulties are fewer. It is no longer a question of a single God in three persons whose essential unity must be expressed at the same time as diversity. The three personages are united by a blood bond, certainly, but they do not constitute an indivisible block. Moreover, all three are represented in human form, while the dove of the Holy Spirit introduces into the divine Trinity a zoomorphic element difficult to amalgamate with two anthropomorphic figures. On the other hand, this iconography was traditionally, until the Counter-Reformation, a representation of the Virgin and Child to which the figure of St. Joseph was added in the foreground. It was not until the reforms of Trent when St. Joseph began to take center stage as protector and guide of the Infant Jesus.